Live WebTV show from Cisco House, overlooking the Olympic Park, highlighting legacy of London 2012

With less than 100 days until the opening ceremony, the Cisco team are already focussing on their Legacy programme and what can be done to deliver lasting social and economic benefits throughout the UK. From the outset, Cisco’s vision for this once in a lifetime opportunity has been to demonstrate how technology can change the way we work, live, play and learn, providing an ongoing programme to accelerate skills, learning and innovation with the key focus on STEM (Science, technology, engineering and Maths) and Innovation.

With the technology sector likely to boom over the next decade and beyond, The Networking Academy (NetAcad) program aims to help fill the growing need for information and communications technology (ICT) and networking professionals, in order to improve education and career opportunities in communities around the world, as well as right here in the UK.

In today’s world as networking capabilities continue to grow, many institutions are experiencing a shortage of qualified ICT specialists to design, install, secure, and manage their networks. Through NetAcad, students who gain ICT knowledge and practical experience through the program can earn Cisco career certifications and help fill an estimated eight million networking jobs around the world.

With the first programme launching in 1997, Cisco now has 600 NetAcad programmes in the UK, in diverse places such as community centres, homeless shelters, football clubs, prisons and military bases as well as traditional schools, colleges and universities.

One man who has witnessed firsthand the benefits of the programme is Sean Kelly. During a two and a half year prison sentence, Sean decided to train in the Cisco Academy PICTA course, which he then continued upon release.

Log into our live and interactive webTV show where Sean, alongside Ian Foddering, Cisco’s UK Chief Technical Officer, will discuss how NetAcad forms part of the London 2012 Legacy programme and how others will benefit.